NAIROBI, Kenya, Jan 30 – Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame has fiercely criticized fellow leaders in the East African Community (EAC), terming the bloc’s approach to the crisis in Eastern DRC as disjointed and ineffective.
Kagame, who made the remarks during an emergency EAC Summit convened by President William Ruto after M23 rebels took control of Goma in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), faulted the bloc, accusing fellow Heads of State of prioritizing national interests at the expense of a collective regional pursuit.
“Tshisekedi decided we were not doing what he wanted and went to SADC. SADC agreed they’d come and do what he wanted and sent everybody else (EAC) packing. We complied and kept quiet,” he lamented in remarks released by the Rwandan presidency.
“But really, to have even had the EAC expelled from Eastern DRC and for everybody to comply, and then remain quiet as if it was normal or okay for everything to be dictated by the country or person we are trying to help,” Kagame said, referring to the EAC Regional Force’s (EAC-RF) withdrawal from the DRC in December 2023.
He wondered why the Summit, after agreeing to withdraw the EAC Regional Force, acted “surprised” over the worsening situation.
“What really did we expect?” Kagame posed.
The Rwandan leader, accused by international observers of fueling chaos in Eastern DRC by supporting M23 rebels, faulted the bloc for being vague on the situation in the DRC.
“If we keep saying good things and being nice to each other while each one fulfills their own interests rather than the common interest we have as East Africans, I don’t see how we are going to contribute effectively to finding a solution,” he cautioned.
‘Uhuru Process’
Kagame also took a swipe at the Nairobi and Luanda Processes, which he said “became an end in themselves, and the people leading these processes became more important than the results of the processes.”
“The Nairobi Process became an Uhuru Process, the Luanda Process is like you cannot say anything that will displease President Lourenço,” he said, referring to Kenya’s former President Uhuru Kenyatta and Angola’s President João Lourenço.
The EAC-led Nairobi Process, facilitated by Kenyatta, seeks to aid high-level political dialogue among Congolese stakeholders to resolve the conflict in Eastern DRC.
Kagame followed up his remarks at the summit with a strongly worded statement on Thursday, telling off South Africa’s Cyril Ramaphosa over Pretoria’s labeling of the Rwanda Defence Force (RDF) as a militia.
“The Rwanda Defence Force is an army, not a militia,” Kagame said.
‘Distortion’
Responding to Ramaphosa’s assessment of the situation in Eastern DRC, where South African forces form part of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Mission, Kagame accused South Africa of distortion.
“What has [been] said about these conversations in the media by South African officials and President Ramaphosa himself contains a lot of distortion, deliberate attacks, and even lies,” he said.
“If words can change so much from a conversation to a public statement, it says a lot about how these very important issues [are being] managed,” Kagame retorted.
His response came amid spiraling tensions between Rwanda and the DRC after M23 rebels seized the city of Goma, having repulsed Congo’s military and allied mercenaries.
While confirming that he had indeed had a conversation with Ramaphosa on two occasions, including on Thursday, Kagame dismissed reports that the South African leader had warned him.
“President Ramaphosa has never given a ‘warning’ of any kind, unless it was delivered in his local language, which I do not understand,” Kagame stated in an X post tagging Ramaphosa.
The Rwandan leader dismissed the SADC mission, SAMIDRC, as “a belligerent,” saying the regional force “has no place in this situation.”
Kagame accused SADC of “displacing” the East African Community Regional Force (EAC-RF), a development he said worsened the situation in Eastern DRC.
“SAMIDRC displaced a true peacekeeping force, the East African Community Regional Force, and this contributed to the failure of the negotiation processes.”
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